Yzak's Very Merry Christmas
by yuugiri
Summary: The title explains it all! XDIf you have not read The Insatiable Heart, you may not know the OC here. Merry Christmas Everyone!


_**Ah, my feet are cold and my hands are freezing but I'm eating mango ice cream while typing this! LOL! Yuugiri has been a bad, bad author… She has made her readers wait so long for updates, and I have even lost communication with friends on the internet. Now this one shot is nothing to be taken seriously. Just having myself another help therapy. A bit rusty here and there so please forgive me. XD**_

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Yzak Jule shivered involuntarily, but it had nothing to do with the cold. He watched with narrowed eyes as Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala decorated the dorm room with tinsel, angels and green and red stuff. It was annoying that Athrun had been humming _Jingle Bells_ while he decked the space above the electric stove with sickeningly cute reindeer socks. It was obvious the girls had done the decoration shopping. His assumption was even layered with more conviction when Kira pulled out a small package with what appeared to be containing tiny bears holding hearts with _A Beary Merry Christmas_ written in it. Yzak wondered what else could be pulled out from the box of decorations they had brought in earlier in the day.

Kira laughed in delight. "Trust Lacus to pick out something like this," the Freedom Pilot said as he started to open the package.

Athrun started to rummage inside the box of decorations once again and withdrew a Santa hat with a triumphant cry. And it was then that the two boys started arguing on who would be wearing the offending little thing.

Yzak sniffed, disgusted. He did not understand why these two were so full of energy at this cold season anyway. He never did like Christmas. And he had a good enough reason for it. All in all, the holiday was obviously a strategically observed trap. Consumers lured into buying extravagantly, kids skillfully and legally demanding the rights of receiving presents, and most of all, another excuse for kissing you while you were under the mistletoe.

The thought made Yzak shudder in his seat. Countless aunts and grandmothers had cornered him every single year to give him sloppy kisses, and he had hated it so much that it caused him to hate the holiday altogether. He remembered when he was five years old that he tried to drive them away by crying. It was then did they bribe him with candy cane. He had stopped crying to suck on the sweet and then that would be when they would ambush him.

He was about to abuse the holiday even more when he felt something fluffy get crammed over his head with so much force that he fell off the couch, shrieking.

Kira had unceremoniously crowned him with the Santa hat.

"What the freaking hell are you doing, you idiot!" he demanded as he whipped off the hat and shook a fist at a laughing Kira.

"Don't be such a Scrooge, Yzak. It's almost Christmas! You're not allowed to be grumpy!" Athrun said as he took the hat from Yzak, put it on his own head and started once again with the box of decorations.

Yzak tried his very best not to pop a blood vessel as he crawled back into his seat. "If you want to clown around, you don't see me stopping you. Just leave me alone and get the decorating over with while I sit here in peace."

Kira shook his head in disbelieve, chuckling softly as he moved to join Athrun. It was then did the door open, admitting a very happy-looking Dearka hauling a huge box taller than he was.

"Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!" the Duel pilot boomed as Athrun and Kira crowded over him and the box. "It was hard, but I finally got us our Christmas tree."

And in no time did the three boys strip the box of packing tape, and a tall, plastic tree was standing in the middle of the room for them to admire. Yzak could only wince at it. He could remember when he was seven, and his mother was decorating their tree for Christmas when the thing had decided to fall on him. That was a very good memory indeed. He had hated Christmas trees ever since.

"So, when are the girls going to get here? I thought they were going to help us with the decorations,"　Kira asked as he studied the tree approvingly, hands on hips.

Athrun, who was now stuffing a square couch pillow inside his shirt for a Santa belly, nodded to acknowledge Kira's question. "They said they'll be coming over after a bit more shopping for gifts and I think more decorations. They'll be here anytime soon, I think."

Dearka was busy arranging some bent branches of the tree. "How much decoration do we need? I'd have thought they'd shopped enough…"

Yzak eyed the tree suspiciously when it titled a bit to the right. Dearka laughed as he straightened the tree once more. That was the last straw, however. The Duel Pilot stood up, grabbed his down jacket, and made his way for the door.

"Where are you going?" Kira asked, tugging at a tangled wire of Christmas lights.

"The library," Yzak mumbled.

"The library is closed for the holidays," Kira pointed out.

"Then I'm going to the mall."

"Sure, if you want to get stampeded by rabid last minute Christmas shoppers," Dearka said blandly.

"Then I'm going to the Internet Café uptown."

"Closed," Athrun said flatly.

Yzak gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Fine. I'm going for a walk, then!"

"It's a negative eleven degrees outside," Kira said, and even he was starting to wonder why Yzak so wanted to get away.

_Crap. Last excuse._

"I'm off to visit Kari," he said desperately.

But as if the fates were against him, the door behind him opened and admitted four girls hardly recognizable in their fluffy wool jackets and caps. Their boots were coated with dirty snow, which they all took their time in removing as they noisily herded themselves inside the warmth of the Men's Dorm.

"Oh, my god. I thought my ears were gonna fall off," Miriallia wheezed as she took off her cap, revealing flushed cheeks and messy hair.

"We wondered where you'd gone off to," Dearka said as he helped Miriallia out of her jacket.

"The Wet Market was a battle field. I thought we were never going to get out alive," Cagalli said as she hung her jacket on the arm of the nearest chair and hurriedly went as close to the heater as possible. She socked Athrun's fake belly, rolled her eyes as the Justice pilot tried to bump her with it several times.

Lacus smiled up at Yzak, then proceeded into the room to help Kira with the losing battle with the Christmas lights. "We could have gotten here sooner but it took us about an hour and a half to find what we were looking for."

"Hm? And what could have you been looking for that took you such long a time to get here?" Kira asked.

"This."

And Yzak's blood froze as he heard the voice come from behind him. As if in slow motion, he looked over his shoulder, and saw – much to his horror – Kari standing in the doorway, clad in a fluffy yellow down jacket and a white scarf. In her hands was what looked like an assortment of weeds. He blinked a few times before he realized what it really was.

"Mistletoe!" Athrun laughed as he walked over to Kari and took the vile thing from her.

Yzak dodged him as he carried the thing across the room, where everyone gathered around it as if it were the most amazing thing ever to graze their presence.

It was then did he feel someone touch his arm gently. He looked down and green eyes nearly drowned him as his girlfriend looked at him inquiringly. "You're awfully quiet," she said.

"Thank you for stating the obvious. Now if you don't mind, I'll be off shoveling snow somewhere," he hissed as he tried to shrug her off.

Again, one of her annoying habits: she wouldn't let go.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Definitely not the library," Dearka said from behind the tree.

"Nor the internet café uptown," Athrun added as he stuffed another pillow into his shirt. Cagalli once again rolled her eyes.

"Not out for a walk, I suppose," Kira said happily as he and Lacus finally got the tangles out of the Christmas lights.

Yzak saw an image of him strangling the three Coordinators with the Christmas lights, and he felt himself calming down with its help of the thought. But apparently, they were right. There was no excuse for him to actually leave and escape tonight to help with the Christmas preparations, and Yzak, being the trained soldier that he was, knew when to give up when he knew he couldn't win.

Kari eyed him warily, once again reading him. "You don't like Christmas?" was what she asked.

Yzak shrugged his down jacket off his shoulders. "I love it. It helps me remember a lot of great childhood memories." He remembered the part when Dearka had given him a tarantula for Christmas when they were nine. The Buster Pilot had not bothered to wrap it…

Kari laughed. "We can make more memories, better memories, from now on. Please stay and let's try to enjoy decorating the tree."

Yzak eyed her grudgingly. She was playing with the tiny hairs at his arms, a gesture that he, being even the rock of a man that he was, could never, ever resist. "Fine," he growled. "But don't expect me to be all jolly about it."

And it was then did they start attacking the tree.

And it was then did Yzak finally feel all the bad karma coming back to him after all the bad things he's done in his life.

It all started with the Christmas lights.

Yzak snarled when Cagalli swatted his hand when he tried to hang a little green ball on a branch.

"Christmas lights first before anything else, Jule," she snapped bossily as she stepped on a low chair to start at the top of the tree.

"Do you want me to help or not?" Yzak growled.

Lacus then handed him an extension cord. "Would you be kind as to find a place where we can connect this?"

Yzak looked at the extension cord as if it were a snake. Ah, yes. How many times had he tripped on these things every Christmas because no one would find a strategic enough location to plug it? He narrowed his eyes at the thing with so much hatred before complying. Finding a decent enough socket that the cord could actually trail behind the sofa, he resumed his place beside the tree along with everyone else.

By the time he did get back though, Dearka had started a stupid song Yzak had more than once heard from gold-digger Christmas carolers before.

"_On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeee,_" Dearka started in an annoying voice.

Athrun laughed. "_A partridge in a pear tree._"

"_On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeeee,_"

Yzak tried to shut out their voices by day dreaming about how Christmas lasted only for a day and that he would have at least three hundred sixty four days of peace before the next Christmas came. But he could not tune out the horrible song when everyone started to join in.

"_Five golden rings!_" Everyone sang slowly, Dearka singing in a deep, Santa Clause voice that made Yzak want to dig a hole and hide in it.

Everyone took a deep breath and sang really, really fast: "_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle-doves, and a partridge in a pear treeeeeeeee!_"

By the time they got to the sixth day of frigging Christmas, the Christmas lights were well hung and Miriallia had started passing out decorations to them. Much to his horror, he was handed a Beary Merry Christmas bear, and he did not know where to hang it because Cagalli was bossing everyone around where to put the decorations they received.

"No, no, no, Yzak! You can't put that bear beside another bear on the same branch because it'll look stupid." The Princess of Orb declared as she once again stopped him from getting rid of the annoying bear.

"And I suppose that's an unwritten rule we have about Christmas Tree Decorating that I haven't heard of?" Yzak snarled.

And it was then that Kira once again started the song. "_On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeee._"

"_Six geese a-laying! FIVE GOLDEN RIIIIIIINGS!_" everyone echoed, including Cagalli, who ignored Yzak altogether, leaving Yzak clutching the bear tightly in his hand.

Yzak turned to Dearka. "What do I do with the bear?" he asked.

Dearka turned to him, beaming. "_Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle-doves, and a partridge in a pear treeeeeee!_"

Yzak grimaced, turned to Athrun for help. "What do I do with the freaking bear?"

Athrun draped an arm around his shoulder. "_On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeee!_"

Yzak shrugged him off, turned to Lacus but even before he could ask for her help, she instantly broke into song. "_Seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying!_"

"_FIVE GOLDEN RIIIIIIIIIINGS!_"

_Oh my god…_

By the time they reached the twelfth day of bloody Christmas, Yzak was already just looking back and watching everyone hang the tree with ornaments, with him still holding on to his Beary Merry Christmas bear.

"That was a fun song!" Miriallia laughed happily as she hung the last ornament on the bottom of the tree with a flourish.

Kira stepped back to admire their work. "Yes it was."

And that was when Dearka cleared his throat and sang in a deep, eerie voice: "_On the first day of Chri_ – OW!"

Yzak had chucked the Beary Merry Christmas bear at his head. "If you repeat the song from day twelve to day one, I will personally kill you with my bare hands and stuff you up the chimney not even Santa Clause could rescue you."

Dearka looked hurt, and everyone stared at Yzak.

Athrun crossed his arms over his fake pillow belly, making him look awfully ridiculous under his Santa hat, no matter how serious his face was. "You know, Yzak, if you make a good enough effort, I'm sure you'd get into the Christmas spirit."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Now, the last thing Yzak needed was to be ganged up with. He gritted his teeth and was about to walk away when a large, glittering object appeared before his eyes. Kari was holding up at his face a silver star the size of his head.

Kari smiled at him. "This star goes at the top, Yzak. No branches you can confuse it with. Go on. Add the finishing touch."

Yzak stared at the star, then at Kari, then at everyone else. All their faces looked expectantly at him, waiting for him to accept the highlight of the symbol of the holiday season.

_If you make a good enough effort, I'm sure you'd get into the Christmas spirit_, Athrun's words echoed through his mind as he gingerly reached for the star with a shaking hand. If he put the star, he can get all this over with, and perhaps they would leave him in peace.

"Fine, whatever," he hissed heatedly, pulling the small chair Cagalli used to reach the top of the tree and hopped on it. "I'll put the freaking star on the freaking tree, are you happy?" He reached out, unceremoniously perched the star on the tree, and everyone clapped happily, letting out woots of laughter and cheers.

Yzak hopped down the chair, backed away a bit and examined their work. Given, the tree looked beautiful. Bright tinsel and shiny ornaments poked here and there, giving it a personality that lacked the trees he had seen in the stores downtown. At least the decorating was over with. He can finally crawl away and they won't have an excuse to bug him anymore.

"Let's switch the Christmas lights on and see how pretty it is!" Cagalli suggested, hurrying to turn off the lights of the room, and Kira was crouched by the sofa to plug the extension cord.

The room was suddenly drowned in darkness, and a second later basked in blues, greens, golds and reds as the tree erupted into a rainbow of flashing lights. Everyone _oohed_ and _ahhed_ as they gathered around the tree, mesmerized.

Even Yzak could not look away. It was the first time he had ever participated in decorating a tree. This year's tree was something he had taken part in, and somehow, the fulfillment made him stare, satisfied at the star sitting contentedly on top of the towering symbol of the holiday he hated the most.

"I can't wait before Christmas," Yzak heard Kari whisper behind him, feeling her tugging at the sleeve of his sweater.

But it was then did Yzak see it happen. He saw Dearka stepping over the sofa to get close to Miriallia. He saw the Buster Pilot's long strides over the carpet, then he saw his foot getting caught in the extension cord. One moment, everyone was standing, the next everyone was screaming as the tree wavered as Dearka toppled over, snagging the cord with his foot. The tree shook dangerously, little ornaments dropping here and there on the carpet. Yzak saw the star he put on top of it tilt to the right ever so slightly, distracting him.

He felt it before he saw it. A flash of leafy green, a rainbow of twinkling lights, and the tree toppled on top of him with an antagonizing _CRUNCH_!

Everyone fell silent after a prolonged "_Oooooooooooooooooohhh!_" escaping from their lips.

Yzak felt pine needles and tiny bears pricking at his skin all over as he felt the weight of the Christmas tree on top of him.

Worst.

Christmas.

Ever.

From between the pine needles and ornaments, he could see Dearka's lavender eyes peeking inside to see if he was all right.

Yzak stared back at him as if daring for him to say anything.

Dearka laughed weakly. "Uhm, at least this Christmas, your great aunt Tessie won't be trapping you underneath the mistletoe, right?"

Yzak lowered his head onto the carpet, resigned. "Go to hell…"

_**0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0**_

_**And I hope your Christmas turns out better than Yzak, everyone!**_

_**A merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!!!**_

_**Yuugiri**_


End file.
